Strokes In Beantown

This past weekend I did something new and (I think) cool ... I went to Boston for the Head Of The Charles but this time instead of just being drunk and/or hungover and watching from the shore, I actually participated. I rowed. All 3 miles of winding, chaos. It was pretty great.

My club got the entry via lottery and the lineup wasn't decided upon until pretty late so we only had about 3 weeks together to get ready. We were in the Club 4+ and it was competitive. Competitive as in powerhouse college crews, former national team members, teams from "across the pond", etc. Anyway, we came in 40th out of 55. Not great numbers but we were happy with our performance considering the minimal prep time, the level of competition and our rookie nerves. We beat 15 boats. At an international competition. That's nothing to cry about. If we do it again, we'll know what to expect and I imagine we'll pick up the training a bit. A good starting point was established and much fun was had.

And Saturday night involved quite a bit of drinking. Something we are well trained in. There was even some karaoke. Embarrassing.

So there you go. Head Of The Charles. See you next year, Boston. Hopefully on the water rather than shore.

Oh, and I saw two things that I liked:

First, this awesome billboard ... when do you ever see anything defending animal testing? Never. Plus leprosy is always funny:


Next, an apartment building I someday wish to reside in. So delicious!:

Mmmmmm, chambers ...

It's Always Something in The D

It's amazing how Detroit can just never catch a break. Sad really. Somehow the gods manage to tarnish the city's already tarnished name and image. Even in an event as common as a half-marathon/marathon: Three Runners Die Competing in Detroit Marathon

For Me?

I've been sitting around, doing a little laundry and other fun household activities when I hear a little chime noise which means I not only received a message on my phone, but a photo message ... fancy! And exciting!

I look and it's from a number I don't know and this is the photo:



I have no idea who they are. But thanks anyway I guess.

Propositioned

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As The Pedals Spin

I ride my bike to work a lot. As often as I can I'd say. It's a little under 4 miles and pretty light on traffic. The only thing that really stops me from riding is if I have somewhere to be right after work that requires a car or if the weather really sucks. Some people think it's because I'm all Earth loving or anti-car or something. That's not really the case. I just happen to like pedaling to and from work. It sort of wakes me up on the way in (and I get to avoid traffic and the stupid parking garage at work) and lets me unwind on the way home. I see things drivers don't get to see, I get to think, I get a little exercise and I suppose I am being sort of helpful to good ol' Earth.

But this being "green" aspect is what I've been questioning a bit. I don't really doubt that my lack of car exhaust and my lack of fossil fuel burning helps the air but there are some things that make me wonder how environmental this bike riding is.

How so? Well I get to work I head to the bathroom to get myself into more of a presentable state for work. So, first I wet my head to get rid of helmet head. That's a little water used. Then some paper towels to dry the dripping away. Paper used. Then I change from my (sometimes) sweaty T-shirt into whatever slightly more fancy shirt I'm going to wear at work. No big deal there, but it does double the number of shirts I am using in a week. So instead of 5 shirts in a work week, I'm making it 10. Those have to be washed. More water and electricity and probably phosphates or some shit I don't really know about.

So I don't know. Fossil fuel/exhaust vs. water/paper/electricity ... who wins that brawl?

This really isn't much to worry about. I certainly prefer the riding and can only imagine that one less car has got to be good for numerous reasons but nevertheless it makes me wonder. But only a little.

Green, Crabby and Delish

Not to get all food-based here, but you should check out, and perhaps make (if the ingredients are agreeable to you) this recipe for Chilled Avocado Bisque With Curried Crab Salad. I made it this weekend and it turned out mighty tasty. Making it even better, the prep time was pretty much non existent. Plus, who doesn't love a good excuse to use the blender?

This bisque, or soup for you common folk, is served cold, so it's probably more ideal for warm weather than for cold, but I don't think my mouth or stomach would have a problem with this at any time of the year.

What are you waiting for? Get to it.

Pork Football

After having a pretty good run with the blogging I slacked a bit but I'm here again. I can't say that I have much to share though.

One thing worth mentioning is I took a few days off from work and roadtripped to NYS for my annual weekend of friends, parents, eating, drinking, boating, fire, fishing, boating, game playing, etc. This was the 12th year I gathered up myself and my friends and did this weekend and it was one of the best. After a couple years of sort of sluggish fun this year got things back on the level.

One of the highlights was culinary in nature. We made the Bacon Explosion (thank you BBQ Addicts and S.M. for steering me to said site). That's ours in the photo. Hot off the grill. It was technically supposed to be smoked but we did some indirect heat grilling since we didn't have a smoker handy and that seemed to work just fine.

The Explosion was a delicious example of a heart attack to come. But possibly worth it. Get back to me after my inevitable bypass and I'll let you know.

Other than that, it's been work, rowing, Netflixing, Xboxing and chillin' on the weekend. Weeeeee!